Puzzle Quest

[frogbeastegg]

Addiction has a new name.

I'm not usually much of a one for puzzle games (the original Lumines and Meteos are the only ones I like), however this one sounded different enough to appeal, the word of mouth across the internet was both positive and increasing exponentially. To seal the deal it was only £18. Oh boy! I drained the battery of my PSP on it in two days - that is precisely 7 hours and 26 minutes, according to the PSP's in-built battery monitor.

It's a RPG-puzzle hybrid. You build a character and wander about the map undertaking quests in typical RPG fashion. Each time you enter a battle you are taken to a grid, and must make a move which swaps two gems about and creates a row of 3, 4, or 5 identical gems. Depending on the type of gem, the effect is different. Red, blue, yellow and green give you mana, which you use to power your character's spells and abilities. Skulls deal damage directly to the enemy. Coins give you money to spend on your cities, skills and equipment. Stars give you bonus experience points. The turns have no time limits, so you can take as long as you like planning moves. If you match 4 or 5 in a row you gain an extra turn. Some spells and abilities grant you an extra turn, or prevent the enemy from taking theirs. As gems are removed those above fall down and new ones are generated at the top of the board.

When you build the correct structures in your city you can capture enemies, research spells, forge items, and capture and then train mounts for your character to ride. Each of these options requires you to play and complete a special type of puzzle, such as clearing a pre-set board so every last gem is removed.

There is a lot of space for character customisation. Initially you choose from 4 classes: warrior, knight, mage, druid. There's the character stats, which you can allot 4 points to each time you level up. They influence things like how much mana you get from different gem types, how much XP and gold you get after a battle, how often you have a chance to score a 'wildcard' gem, extra damage done with skull gems, and more. There's skills, which your character learns by levelling up and by researching. You may have up to 6 equipped at a time, and if you have a mount you can have a seventh skill which comes from the creature itself. Items and equipment work in the usual RPG way: they cut damage, boost stats, grant powers, etc etc. The maximum level is 50, and so far my character is levelling up at a nice, steady pace. Once you reach the level cap you can continue to buy skill points, so you can take your character further.

You can capture cities! They will pay you regular tribute.

The AI is very competitive. It does tend to be lucky, getting chains of gems from the new ones generated at the top of the screen, but to be fair I get such chains too. I've actually lost more battles than I have won ... partly due to my initially being rubbish.

Best of all, there is no penalty for failure. You keep any experience and gold you gained from gem matching and end up back on the map just before that battle. You can also replay battles whenever you like, and you still gain the same rewards from them.

It's perfect for play at any time. You can finish a battle in minutes, or you can go on a series of quests which lasts collectively for more than an hour.

Away from the campaign mode, you can play battles with your character against selected opponents of varying levels and difficulty. There’s also some kind of MP mode.

There's a PC demo of the game available for download, and a PC version coming out at some point. It's out now on DS and PSP.

[Kraellin]

havent tried it yet, but you can get the demo for the pc here: http://www.gamedaily.com/canvases/gd/_a/download-puzzle-quest-demo/20070315101009990002

[Kraellin]

frogster,

i've got the demo and might be willing to buy the thing, but cant find where to buy it. i checked their home page and they have no link for purchasing. any ideas?

[frogbeastegg]

Yay, I'm not alone!

Krae, it depends which version you want. For some reason there doesn't seem to be a PC version yet, and I can't find anything about a date for one. The DS and PSP versions are available; they do seem a bit rare on the ground here, and it sounds similar on your side of the pond. I got mine off the net. Amazon.com has the PSP edition in stock now and more stock for the DS edition coming soon. The other sites I know to be selling it are UK based, and won't ship games to America thanks to Sony and co stomping on out of region sales. Other than that, try checking the websites for game shop chains.

[Kraellin]

thanks, frogette :)

yes, i saw the one on amazon. and i've got the pc demo. seems odd that the pc game isnt available with the demo being out and all.

i've run through all the demo quests and am at lvl 7 (the highest you can go in the demo) and it does let you continue to 'fight' minor critters but they are just too easy now. i've got a mount to about lvl 13, which was quite an adventure. i had to fight a lvl 13 critter with only a four second move time. lol. talk about frantic! :) and i've also captured all three castles that show in the demo. that last one was tough. i've also captured several critters and learned their spells.

i thought for a while that the AI was cheating. he was getting a lot of four-in-a-rows that werent four-in-a-row, until i found out i was getting them too and that those came from bonuses :)

so, it's a cute, play before going to bed type game.

[frogbeastegg]

it's a cute, play before going to bed type game.
I did that a few times. I forgot to go to sleep. Then I dreamed about moving gem stones. :blankg:

[Kekvit Irae]

*coughripoff (http://popcap.com/launchpage.php?theGame=bejeweled2)cough*
Well, at least Puzzle Quest is a GOOD ripoff, unlike many other games.

[Xiahou]

I played the PC demo for this game and got to level 7 (demo limit) in one sitting, so I figured I should buy it. When I brought it up to the counter at a local Gamestop, the nerd behind the counter flipped out saying "OMG, I love this freakin game!" :laugh4:

He said that he had it for the PSP and his gf had it for the DS. He said he liked the PSP version better because he didn't care for the DS touchscreen. But what he said that was really interesting to me is that the PSP and DS versions can play together via wireless LAN play. I didn't think that would be possible- yet he claimed to have done so. Amazing if true!

Unsurprisingly, as an avid DS user, I like using the touchscreen and think the game is great and highly addictive. One thing I noticed, in the Demo I was a wizard, but on the DS, I decided to go with a Knight... I seem to be losing alot more as a knight than I did as a wizard. Any guesses as to why?


*coughripoff (http://popcap.com/launchpage.php?theGame=bejeweled2)cough*
Well, at least Puzzle Quest is a GOOD ripoff, unlike many other games.
Meh, I don't really think "ripoff" is a fair term. The basic puzzle is there, but it's much changed and there's too much built on and around the premise to dismiss it as just a ripoff.

I'd save that term for games like ZooKeeper. :beam:

[frogbeastegg]

From what I hear wizards are overpowered. Their attack spells are very damaging.

My character is a knight, and I found the first few levels of his life difficult. Once I got - and started to use effectively - stun and trample I began to find life easier. Stun is nice; it causes the enemy to miss a turn and does respectable damage. If you can then put together some fours you can get multiple turns in a row and hoover up some goodies. Trample is best if you have a lot of red mana; it does damage equal to half your red mana. Later on you get upgrades of these skills.

[Xiahou]

My character is a knight, and I found the first few levels of his life difficult.
I think that's what I'm finding too. I hit level 12 and am now winning a good majority of my battles. Some good equipment really made a big difference. I got a great axe that gives a 50% chance of an xtra turn when you do 3 or more damage and the Rams helm that give bonus damage- I think +2 whenever you do 3 or more. I've also done some massive damage with trample but, I recently took Stun out of my rotation in favor of a Promotion/Divine Right combo. Whatever there's most of, I change to experience gems and then on my next turn, I use DR to collect all the exp gems on screen. I've gotten some pretty good results with it.

Minor spoiler/question:
Did you deliver the princess to her arranged marriage or free her?

[frogbeastegg]

In response to your spoiler, I'm a soft-hearted lady frog who is playing a knight in shiny armour. :gring:

I tend to limit the use of promotion and divine right to easier battles where I want to gain XP. If I'm serious I don't use them; I had far too many bad experiences with the AI comboing me half to death because of a single use of either.

[Xiahou]

In response to your spoiler, I'm a soft-hearted lady frog who is playing a knight in shiny armour. :gring: Well, I thought maybe you felt duty bound to complete your mission. I must admit though, the reward played a small role in my decision in addition to doing the "nice" thing. :beam:


I tend to limit the use of promotion and divine right to easier battles where I want to gain XP. If I'm serious I don't use them; I had far too many bad experiences with the AI comboing me half to death because of a single use of either.I've been pretty lucky with it so far- it's also a good way to deny an enemy a mana type that they need. Maybe it'll stop paying off later though... I'm only about lvl 16 so far. :shrug:

[Orb]

I'm an addict. And I've only got the demo, but I'm still playing it way past the level 7 cap.

[Orb]

I'm going to kill someone if this doesn't become available on PC by the end of my exams.

I'll start with me and then go for the developers.

[Kekvit Irae]

I finally got Puzzle Quest for the DS, and now I am the proud player of a sexy druidess by the name of Kaellynn.
Right off the bat, the difficulty is atrocious. It took me forever to beat the training knight. I only managed to beat him by spamming gemberry.

[frogbeastegg]

Wow! Glad I didn't pick the druid class! My knight stomped the early battles until I took a quest from a city which had me fighting a skeleton. From that point I lost occasionally.

Maybe you should play some custom battles to level your character a bit?

[Xiahou]

Sometimes you just get a stretch of bad luck too. I've had a couple battles where half my life was gone before I even got to take my first turn.... :sweatdrop:

In other news, I'd been using my Great Axe forever because of the 50% chance of an extra turn when you do 5+ dmg (which is everytime when your battle is as high as mine is). But that changed today- I got.... Dugog's Club- 20% chance to do +12 damage whenever you do damage. With that, I could theoretically trash somebody for 20+ damage just by matching 3 skulls. :smash:

[Kekvit Irae]

Once I cleared the knight, it was all downhill from there, especially once I managed to get Forest Fire and Chain Lightning.

[Xiahou]

Once I cleared the knight, it was all downhill from there, especially once I managed to get Forest Fire and Chain Lightning.
Are those as cool as they sound like they are? :beam:

[Kekvit Irae]

Forest Fire is your basic direct damage spell. Deals more damage the more red mana you have. Chain Lightning destroys a single vertical column, giving you the full benefits of each gem destroyed. This isn't all that effective if you do it normally, but if you get a chance to destroy a column with one or more +5 skulls (the glowing ones), you can deal some SERIOUS damage.

[Tamur]

Another here who loves the demo but who isn't going to part with the money to buy a gaming system to play it. Apparently I've the Grumpy PC Gamer counter to Infinite's Marketing Tactics power.

Lovely interface, this one's a real joy to play.

[Orb]

I think I've done all I can with the demo :(

Level 7 mage with decent skills in everything, fully upgraded citadel, optimum equipment for me, level 16 giant rat mount, one city taken, about to get the other.

[Kekvit Irae]

Barely a day in, and I've managed to exploit the system.
Defeat the practice dummy, and keep battling it until you have enough gold to buy a Horn of Triumph. This Misc item will give you +50 experience after every battle. Keep killing the practice dummy, and you'll be able level up quickly without needing to worry about the enemy fighting back.

[Xiahou]

Barely a day in, and I've managed to exploit the system.
Defeat the practice dummy, and keep battling it until you have enough gold to buy a Horn of Triumph. This Misc item will give you +50 experience after every battle. Keep killing the practice dummy, and you'll be able level up quickly without needing to worry about the enemy fighting back.
You could get a jumpstart that way if you wanted, but it hardly seems worth the trouble. I usually try to get horn as quick as I can with a new character, but the returns diminish as you gain levels with 50exp seeming less and less significant compared to the other Misc items you can carry.

Personally, I'd rather get out and play the game than spend that much time with the practice dummy. But the great thing about video games is that you can play them however you like. :2thumbsup:

[Kekvit Irae]

You could get a jumpstart that way if you wanted, but it hardly seems worth the trouble. I usually try to get horn as quick as I can with a new character, but the returns diminish as you gain levels with 50exp seeming less and less significant compared to the other Misc items you can carry.

Personally, I'd rather get out and play the game than spend that much time with the practice dummy. But the great thing about video games is that you can play them however you like. :2thumbsup:

I only bothered with the practice dummy/Horn until I got to an optimum level (about level 6 or 7), then moved on to actual battles. Even at level 16, my Warrior finds the Horn of Triumph to be a valuable tool to gaining levels quickly. I have yet to find a good Misc item to replace it, so until then, my Horn of Triumph is staying in my inventory.

[Xiahou]

I've gone thru several Misc items, but the one I'm currently using is the Troll Ring- +1 life each turn whenever you have 6 or more blue mana. That's won several close battles for me. I figure that over the course of a typical battle it effectively negates 3 or more enemy attacks. Of course, I still use the Promotion/Divine Right combo a lot too- which also might help explain why the horn doesn't seem as great to me now at level 17 as it did earlier.

It's definitely sweet using my new club to do 20dmg (occassionally), but I'm still not sure that it's better than the 50% chance for a second turn whenever I match skulls.... :shrug:

[Kekvit Irae]

As a Warrior, I'm at a total lack of healing spells, unlike my Druidess which starts the game with one. Having a Greater Troll Ring is great, but I'm not specialized in water magic so I don't get very much blue mana.

[frogbeastegg]

Another good way to boost lower level characters is the repeatable optional quest where you destroy the catapults. It's an easy battle, and you can complete the whole thing in under a minute if you're lucky. You get a highly respectable dollop of gold and XP each time you report to the city, plus whatever you gain in the battle. It soon adds up, and before you know it you've gained several levels and can afford some stat points or good gear.

[ElectricEel]

I played the demo and found it quite entertaining. Hopefully this will be available for the PC at some point.

[Kekvit Irae]

PQ is coming to the X-Box Live Arcade, so I'm eagerly awaiting to see what achievements they have.

[Adrian II]

I have downloaded the demo and played it for a while and I can understand the addiction. It doesn't work for me though because I can't stand the posh voice or the pointer that helps you with the puzzles. Major irritants for Adrian II..
:embarassed:

[frogbeastegg]

the pointer that helps you with the puzzles
Pointer?! I don't have a pointer. :looks suspiciously at her PSP edition of the game: I've been robbed!

[Adrian II]

Pointer?! I don't have a pointer. :looks suspiciously at her PSP edition of the game: I've been robbed!PC man here. I downloaded the demo for PC and it has a white pointer that flashes up after eight seconds into any puzzle round and points at a 'convenient' square to move.

Not.

Many pointers are detrimental. The middle-aged Mary Poppins voice makes it far, far worse. These are just personal issues, nothing to ruffle a frog's, um, feathers..

*punishes self for lame imagery*

[Kekvit Irae]

After managing to fend off boredom because of hundreds of Bejeweled battles, I finally managed to win the game with the evil ending, and I have to say one thing:

Warriors are over-powered.

They have Fire and Battle as their main skills, and I managed to win the game at level 50 with 50 in both skills, along with a minimum of 20 in everything else thanks to plenty of income from all those sieges. Level 30 grants you the spell 'Deathbringer', which randomly creates a number of skulls on the board equal to half your red mana. With 50 red mana, that's 25 skulls on the board, almost completely guaranteeing you massive damage and a 4 or 5 combo. 50 Battle ensures that even matching just 3 will net a minimum of 6 damage. Combine this with a Helm of the Ram, and forged items that increase damage (use a Rune of Dragons or Rune of Gods), and you can effectively get 15+ damage on a single 3 skull combo. Even 300hp castles were no match for 2 or 3 Deathbringers.